USA > Illinois > Christian County > Past and present of Christian County, Illinois > Part 43
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Fraternally Mr. Parrish is a member of the Court of Honor and politically is a sup- porter of the Democratic party. He filled the office of highway commissioner for ten years and was a member of the school board
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for fifteen years, his official duties being most efficiently and satisfactorily performed. As a citizen he ever stands ready to dis- charge any duty that devolves upon him and he stands high in public esteem.
JOSEPH H. BERTMANN.
Success is determined by one's ability to recognize opportunity and to pursue this with a resolute, unflagging energy. It re- sults from continued labor, and the man who thus accomplishes his purpose usually becomes an important factor in business cir- cles of the community with which he is con- nected. Through such means Mr. Bert- mann has attained a leading place among the representative men of Morrisonville and his well spent and honorable life commands the respect of all who know him.
Mr. Bertmann was born on a farm in Jer- sey county, this state, his parents being Frederick and Antoinette ( Brockamp) Bertmann, both of whom are of German de- scent. The father was born in Germany on the end of January, 1840, and came to Am- erica in 1857, when seventeen years of age. He became a resident of Jersey county, Illi- nois, and although he started out for him- self without capital, he is to-day a wealthy man, estimated to be worth about seventy- five thousand dollars His time and atten- tion have been mainly devoted to farming and in his undertakings he has been emi- nently successful. He has reared a large family of eleven children and provided all with good educational advantages.
During his boyhood and youth J. H. Bert- mann attended the public schools near his home. At an early age it became his desire to enter mercantile life and when nineteen he became identified with the grocery busi- ness in Morrisonville, taking charge of a
store purchased by his father, and at the age of twenty-one he bought the store of his father, and altough he ran in debt for it, by close attention to business and his natural ability he soon increased his trade and set- tled the obligation. Later he added a stock of dry goods, carpets, boots and shoes and to-day has one of the best equipped general stores in the county. During the sixteen years he has carried on the business his sales have steadily increased even during the hard times and he now enjoys a large and lucra- tive trade. He occupies a new double store, having five thousand square feet of floor space and he carries a stock valued between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars. He is also a director in the First National Bank of Morrisonville and is regarded as one of the most enterprising and progressive busi- ness men of the town.
In 1889 Mr. Bertmann was united in mar- riage to Miss Laura Fleigle, a daughter of Philip Fleigle, who was born in Pennsyl- vania of German parentage. Four children bless this union, namely: Frederick, Marv, Dena and Frank, all at home. The family are communicants of the Catholic church and stand high socially. Mr. Bertmann re- cently built a handsome residence at a cost of seven thousand dollars, it being supplied with all modern improvements. It stands in the midst of a block of ground and is an ornament to the city. In his political views Mr. Bertmann is a Democrat and was pre- vailed upon to serve as alderman of Morri- sonville one term, but does not care for po- litical honors, preferring to devote his un- divided attention to his family and business interests. He loses no time from his busi- ness, not even for recreation. He likes, how- ever. a good horse and keeps one. from which he derives considerable pleasure. It is by close attention to business, combined
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with sound judgment and good executive ability, that he has met with the wonderful success that has crowned his efforts and made him one of the leading business men of the county.
R. W. JOHNSON, M. D.
Dr. R. W. Johnson is now engaged in the practice of medicine in Assumption and is also proprietor of a drug store. He is nuni- bered among the honored citizens of Chris- tian county, his memory forming a connect- ing link between the primitive past and the progressive present. He has been one of the upbuilders of Assumption and has pro- - Illinois had not yet sprung into existence. moted its material interest in a way that has produced results of far-reaching importance to the community. His acquaintance is so wide and the regard in which he is held is so universal that no history of the county would be complete without mention of Dr. Johnson.
A native of Hampshire county, Virginia, the Doctor was born on the 28th of Febru- ary, 1850, a son of Joseph W. and Annie (Pugh) Johnson. His father became one of the early settlers of Christian county. Leaving his old home in Virginia, he trav- eled by way of the Great Lakes to Detroit, Michigan, and thence to Illinois, where he arrived in 1852, when his son, the Doctor, was but two years of age. The only railroad at that time in this part of the country was the Great Western, now a part of the Wa- bash system. Mr. Johnson continued his journey to Springfield over that road and by wagon, traversed the twenty miles that lay between the capital and his destination. He first stopped at the great historic place known as Blue Point. It was in reality but a stage station. A public house had been opened there in 1830 and supper, lodging
and breakfast and also feed for the horses was furnished for fifty cents at the Blue Point Inn. At one time Abraham Lincoln owned the land upon which the little hos- telry stood. Joseph W. Johnson went out upon the prairie and erected a log cabin in Buckhart township, being one of the first to settle in that part of the county. His home was east of the present town of Edinburg and in that vicinity he improved two good farms. When he came deer were to be seen in great droves and wild game of all kinds was very plentiful. The land was largely unclaimed and uncultivated and many of the now thriving towns and villages in central
In his boyhood days the Doctor assisted his father in breaking prairie, using five yoke of oxen and a plow. He remembers with pleas- ure many of the incidents of pioneer days, although it involved much labor in order to reclaim the wild land for the purposes of cultivation. Dr. Johnson has many a time cut grain with a sickle and has assisted in cradling it. He has also cultivated corn with a single shovel plow and in those days the seed was dropped by hand and covered with a hoe. After the corn was shelled, which was done mostly at night, it was taken into the house and placed in sacks or tied up in sheets or other convenient pieces of cloth. It sold at Moweaqua for ten or twelve and a half cents per bushel. The stock was driven to St. Louis, which was the nearest market and the men often had to sleep out at nights when taking their hogs to that city. The first pair of trousers which he ever owned were made from tow and on more than one occasion he has helped to scratch flax. In those old days the sheep were sheared upon the farm and the wool was converted into clothing, the spinning wheels being operated by the mother and
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daughters of the household from early morning until evening. Many men went barefooted to church for in those days the settlers had few of the luxuries and even were without many of the comforts of life of the present day. The first lamp which the Johnson family ever had was made by placing grease in an old iron teakettle lid brought from Virginia and into this the wick was inserted. Then dipped candles were made and later molds were used. In those old pioneer times a beef was killed and di- vided among the neighbors and the tallow was also given to each family so that can- dles could be made from it. Dr. Johnson was sixteen years of age before he pur- chased a pair of shoes at a store. Every- thing used upon the farm either for eating or for clothing was of home manufacture. There were many sloughs and ponds in the county and it was thought that there was no bottom to them and that the land could not possibly be made cultivable.
Dr. Johnson has made many a rail for fences and in fact has performed all the work incident to the cultivation and im- provement of a farm in the early days. Great blizzards, too, would sweep over the country and the family at times were storm bound for days. In 1870 Joseph W. John- son was elected a justice of the peace of Edinburg, before the town was incorpor- ated. Incorporation took place in 1873 and he was then elected police magistrate and held that office for about twenty years. Dur- ing the last fourteen years of his life he lived in the home of his son, Dr. Johnson. where he passed away in 1896, at the age of seventy-six years. His wife died in 1881 at Edinburg when more than fifty years of age. By this marriage there were two sons, the younger being Edward E., who is a graduate of the Rush Medical College of
Chicago and is now a prominent practicing physician of Carroll, Iowa.
Dr. R. W. Johnson obtained his carly edu- cation in the log schoolhouse supplied with slab benches. School was conducted on the subscription plan and he had to walk four miles each morning and evening in order to enjoy the advantages of instruction afforded in that primitive temple of learning. Dur- ing the summer months his aid was needed upon the farm and from the time of early spring planting until crops were harvested in the late autumn he worked in the fields so that there were only left the winter months, in which he might attend school. However, he was ambitious to secure an education and when a boy of about seventeen years he worked for his board in Taylor- ville in order that he might attend the public schools of that city. He lived with a physi- cian and had to curry the Doctor's horse and perform other work about the place. On one occasion the Doctor gave him some pills to make. This was the beginning of his services in connection with the medical pro- fession. He rather liked the work assigned to him and took a fancy to reading medical text-books. He says that he owes his con- nection with the medical, fraternity to Dr. Lewis Clark, who is now living retired in Decatur. In 1869 he entered the Cincinnati College of Physicians & Surgeons and was graduated in 1872. During his collegiate days he also read and studied under the di- rection of Dr. J. Peebles, then of Edinburg. Illinois, but now of Nebraska.
After his graduation Dr. Johnson went to Shelby county. Illinois, and opened an office at Oconee in the fall of 1872. There he was successfully established in a good practice within a short time and continued the work there until 1877. when he came to Assump- tion. After five years' practice here he pur-
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chased of Mr. Brown a drug store and has conducted it continuously in connection with his practice since 1882 and in the early days he rode over the country on horseback, 1111- less the sloughs made it impossible to do even this, when he would have to cover the dis- tance on foot. In 1877 he opened his office in the Commercial block, where he is still located. He now has a well equipped office supplied with the accessories necessary to facilitate his medical practice and surgical work and he keeps in touch with the ad- vanced thought of the times and has been very successful in his ministrations to suf- fering humanity.
When Dr. Johnson arrived in Assump- tion it was a little village of about three hundred inhabitants, most of the people being French. Cattle were still here in the corporation limits and the houses were very few. He was the first to have laid a twelve- foot sidewalk in front of his place. He has bought and sold considerable real estate and at the present time is engaged quite largely in speculating in land. He laid out the east part of the town. He has served as super- visor of Assumption township for eight years and has been a member of the town board and of the school board and has exer- cised his official prerogatives for the sub- stantial improvement of his city. He or- ganized the Hackberry Camp, M. W. A., and remained with it as one of its charter members.
Dr. Johnson was married in Oconee, Shel- by county, Illinois, March 10, 1874, the lady of his choice being Miss Angusta Hinton, who was born, reared, educated and married in that town. She is a daughter of John Hinton, a merchant and prominent citizen of Oconee and also an extensive cattle trader. He married Mary E. Whitington, also of Shelby county, the Whitingtons
being among the earliest pioneer settlers there. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hinton are now deceased. Unto Dr. Johnson and his wife have been born fourteen children, but three of the number died in infancy. The others are: Gertie, who is a popular school teacher in West End school of Assumption ; Roy, who is assisting his father in the drug store ; Charles, who having graduated in the Assumption schools, afterward attended Bloomington University for two years and is now a student in the College of Physicians & Surgeons of St. Louis, Missouri; Roberta, who is a nurse in Bennett Hospital of Chi- ยท cago; Blanche, who is a graduate of the As- sumption school; Robert : Joseph ; Ivy ; Mar- cas L. : Sadie; and Helen. Marcas was named in honor of the pioneer of Assump- tion, who died at the age of ninety-four years. Dr. Johnson and his family are mem- bers of the First Presbyterian church of As- sumption and they live in a modern home east of the church. In Assumption they are very widely and favorably known and with- out invidious distinction Dr. Johnson might well be termed one of the foremost residents of Assumption and of Christian county.
WILLIAM Q. WINTERS.
William Q. Winters, one of Rosamond township's best and most reliable citizens, was born on the 4th of October, 1835, in Winterville, Jefferson county, Ohio, which place was named in honor of his great- grandfather, Isaiah Winters, who was one of the first settlers in that locality and was a farmer by occupation. Our subject's grand- father, Abraham Winters, followed the same pursuit and continued to make his home in Jefferson county throughout life. That county was the birthplace of our sub-
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ject's father, Wilson Winters, and there he was married to Miss Priscilla Lake. Like his ancestors he also engaged in agricultural pursuits. Two years after his son came to this county he removed thither and died here in 1873, at the age of sixty-two years. His wife, who long survived him, passed away in 1897, at the advanced age of eighty-four. They were the parents of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, all of whom reached man and womanhood, and one son and three daughters are still living.
During his boyhood William Q. Winters attended the Red school house in Wells township, Jefferson county, Ohio, and early became familiar with form work in its various departments. He also learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for about fifteen years, but his time and atten- tion have mainly been devoted to agricul- tural pursuits. When the country became involved in Civil war he enlisted in Com- pany D, Forty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infan- try, and was in the service twelve months, participating in the engagements at Nash- ville, Tullahoma, Chattanooga and Stone River. On receiving an honorable dis- charge he returned to his home in Jefferson county, Ohio, and worked in the car shops at Steubenville, Ohio, for three years.
At Wellsville, Jefferson county, Ohio, Mr. Winters was married February 11, 1868. to Miss Elizabeth M. Kirkpatrick, a daugh- ter of William and Sarah ( Culbert) Kirk- patrick, who were natives of Ireland and pioneers of Jefferson county, Ohio. Mrs. Winters was born February 24. 1841. and is the youngest in a family of eight children, of whom two died in infancy and Albert after reaching manhood. Mr. and Mrs. Winters have six children : Isaac and Rob- ert. both residents of Rosamond township:
Thomas, now in California ; Della May, at home; Birdie R., wife of Getys Graden, who lives near Ohlman. Montgomery county, Illinois; and William W., at home.
It was on the ed of January, 1867, that Mr. Winters came to Christian county, Illi- nois, and took up his residence on . section 15. Rosamond township. At that time not one-third of the land of the township was under cultivation and his own tract of eighty acres was wild and unimproved but he soon placed it under the plow and he had a fine farm. He has added to his place and now has two hundred acres under a high state of cultivation and well improved with good buildings. His first home here was a small house, only sixteen by twenty feet in dimen- sions, and the walls were unplastered until the fall after his arrival here. The ground was so wet at that time that he had to dig down only eight or ten feet for water, which was drawn from the well by a bucket. Things have materially changed since that time and Mr. Winters has all of the conven- iences and accessories found upon the well regulated farms of the present day. His present comfortable residence was erected in 1883.
Mr. Winters is devoutly religious and be- longs to what is known as the Assembly of God. It matters not to this organization to what church or religious denomination one may belong for "where one or two are gath- ered together in My name there will I be also," and with them all people may wor- ship. In Mr. Winters' home memorial services are held on the first day of the week and all are invited to participate. . As an earnest Christian gentleman. thoroughly consistent in all things, he commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he is brought in contact.
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T. J. VIDLER.
The stock-raising interests of central Illi- nois are well represented by T. J. Vidler, proprietor of the Elmwood stock farm and his reputation in this direction has extended over a wide territory. He is especially well known as a breeder of pure bred Aberdeen- Angus cattle and standard bred trotting horses and his business has become a profita- ble one. At the same time it has been of direct benefit to the agricultural community through the raising of the standard of stock in this locality and thereby the promotion of prices paid on the market.
Mr. Vidler was born in Griggsville, Pike county, Illinois, in 1858, and is a son of John and Mary A. Vidler. The family is of English lineage. The father was born in Sussex. England, and came to the United States in 1854, settling first in Rochester. New York. He afterward went to Griggs- ville, Illinois, where he turned his attention to the manufacture of brick. In 1866 he came to Pana, where he began contracting and building in connection with brick manu- facturing. His business grew to extensive and important proportions and resulted in bringing to him success. He died in Pana in the year 1899 and thus passed away one of the representative and highly respected residents of the state.
Thomas J. Vidler, whose name intro- duced this record, acquired his early educa- tion in the schools of Pana and afterward became a student in Jacksonville, Illinois. No event of special importance occurred in his boyhood days to change the course of his career and at the age of twenty-one years he started out in life on his own account. He was first employed as a bookkeeper at Dunkle, Illinois, by the firm of Dunkle Brothers and afterward he became deputy
treasurer of Christian county under W. J. Jordan, while subsequently he filled the same position under James White. The last named gentleman died while in office and Mr. Vidler was then elected to fill out the unexpired term. On his retirement from official life he entered the employ of A. G. Barnes, of Taylorville, as cashier in his bank and there remained for two years. On the expiration of that period he came to Pana and was engaged in the insurance and real estate business for some time. He was also for ten years the cashier of the First Na- tional Bank of Pana, which was organized in 1889. Mr. Vidler now owns a stock farm of three hundred acres, pleasantly and con- veniently located about four miles south of Pana. He is here engaged in the breeding and raising of standard bred trotting horses and has raised and trained a number of fine animals, including Belle V., with a record of 2:2214 : Katie V .. 2:2114: and Magnolia V., 2:2412. His place is known as the Elm- wood stock farm and in recent years he has given much of his time and attention to the breeding of pure bred Aberdeen-Angus cat- tle, of which he has a herd of sixty head. He is well known as one of the most prom- inent stockdealers of Christian county and has a well improved farm. Recently his barns were destroyed by fire, but he is now rebuilding them and he keeps everything about his place in excellent condition, neat- ness and thrift characterizing the property in all of its departments.
In 1881 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Vidler and Miss Isabelle Hogan, a . daughter of J. Hogan, of Pana. This mar- riage has been blessed with four children, one son and three daughters, namely: Fan- nie. May. Paul and Lois, all yet at home. The wife and mother belongs to the Catholic church, Mr. Vidler is a very prominent
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Mason, having attained the thirty-second de- gree of the Scottish rite. He also belongs to the Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine in Chicago, Illinois, and his name is on the membership roll of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Pana. In politics he is an earnest Democrat, believing firmly in the principles of the party and he filled the office of town clerk for two terms. He has also been a member of the school board for eighteen years and is filling that position at the pres- ent writing. The cause of education has in- deed found in him a champion, one who is untiring in his efforts to promote the ef- ficiency of the schools by raising the stand- ard of instruction. He has ever taken an active and helpful interest in public affairs and his record altogether is one most com- mendable. He has ever discharged his du- ties with marked ability and fairness, for 'he is a most loyal, public-spirited citizen. As a business man he has been conspicuous among his associates, not only for his suc- cess, but for his probity, fairness and honor- able methods. In everything he has been eminently practical and this has been mani- fest not only in his business undertakings, but also in social and private life.
CHRISTOPH WUCHERPFENNIG.
Sound judgment combined with fine abil- ity in mechanical lines has enabled the sub- ject of this biography-a well-known black- smith of Morrisonville-to attain a sub- stantial success in life, and his history is of especial interest. He was born in Madison county. Illinois, on the 7th of December. 1848, and is a son of Henry and Margrate Wucherpfennig. both natives of Germany. The father, who was a stone-mason by trade, died at the age of forty-two years.
At the age of eight Christoph Wucher-
pfennig accompanied his parents on their re- moval to Montgomery county, Illinois, and the following three years were spent upon a farm there, but after the death 'of his father, which occurred when our subject was only eleven years old, he removed with his mother to Edwardsville, this state, completing his education in the common schools of that city. It was his early ambition to learn some trade, so at the age of sixteen he apprenticed himself to a cooper, but as that work proved uncongenial he followed it only one year. He then made a contract with one of the best blacksmiths of his day to learn that trade, the first year to receive forty dollars. the second sixty dollars and the third one hundred dollars and twenty-five more if he should remain until the term of his contract expired, which he did. accordingly receiving one hundred and twenty-five dollars for the last year's service. Wishing to make a change at the end of that time he began work as a journeyman with another black- smith of Edwardsville and after being in his employ for a time he went to St. Louis. where he worked at his trade for about eight months. His employer in that city was a manufacturer of plows, in which line he had quite a reputation, and there Mr. Wucher- pfennig learned the difficult art of setting a plow correctly, which has been of great advantage to him in later years. In 1870 he came to Morrisonville and built the first blacksmith shop at this place, where he has now worked at the anvil for thirty-three vears without intermission. In 1888 he re- placed the old shop by a more commodious and substantial building thirty by fifty feet in dimension, with an engine and storeroom fourteen by eighteen feet, in which he has a six horse-power engine. He has two forges and does the most extensive business in his line in the city. By his good work-
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CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
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